What does naturalistic mean?
Word: Naturalistic
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Naturalistic means showing people, animals or places just as they really look in nature or in real life.
Synonyms: realistic
Antonyms: abstract
How do you spell naturalistic?
Syllables: nat - u - ral - is - tic
Tricky part: The u after the t is easy to swallow in speech, which is why natralistic is a common mistake.
Watch out for: natralistic, naturallistic
Memory tip: Say nat-YOU-ral-istic to yourself, so the u you hear in YOU stays on paper.
Naturalistic in a sentence
Example 1: The museum's naturalistic display shows tigers among real-looking grass and rocks.
Example 2: Her naturalistic painting of the Kerala backwaters looked almost like a photograph.
Example 3: The zoo built a naturalistic home for the otters, with a stream and fallen logs.
Fun Fact
Zoos began building naturalistic enclosures with moats instead of bars in the early 1900s; the Tierpark Hagenbeck in Hamburg, opened in 1907, is often named as the first.
Practise the CREST Way
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
tscialunrati
a) naturally
b) naturalistic
c) naturalist
d) neutralise
Show answer
b) naturalistic. Twelve letters with a c and two i's fit only one choice; naturalist has no c and naturally has a y.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
n_tural_stic
a) a, e
b) e, i
c) u, i
d) a, i
Show answer
d) a, i. Natural starts with the a of nature, and the ending -istic has an i before the s.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word:
naturalistic
a) symbolic
b) lifelike
c) stylised
d) fanciful
Show answer
b) lifelike. Fanciful, stylised and symbolic art all move away from how things really look.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) enthusiastic
b) optimistic
c) futuristick
d) naturalistic
Show answer
c) futuristick. Futuristic ends in -ic with no k, like the other three.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A naturalistic drawing of a parrot would ____.
a) show every feather in its true colour
b) use only squares and circles
c) give it a crown and a cape
d) colour it in rainbow stripes
Show answer
a) show every feather in its true colour
2. A film director wants naturalistic acting. What does she ask the actors for?
a) to sing between every scene
b) to wear masks over their faces
c) to talk and move as people normally do
d) to use loud voices and big gestures
Show answer
c) to talk and move as people normally do
